Most cleaning escapes don’t happen on easy, flat surfaces. They happen inside slots, under clamp lips, along intersecting joints, and at the back of housings where you can’t maintain a stable wipe path. That is where operators unintentionally “flood-and-chase” — over-wet to make solvent reach, then scrub to remove streaks, which often spreads a thin residue film instead of lifting it.

TX740B is designed for that exact moment: a defined, medium-sized contact patch on an absorbent open-cell foam head, plus a long handle that keeps gloves, sleeves, and knuckles out of the work zone while you control angle and pressure. The goal is not more force — it is repeatable solvent control and clean face management.

TX740B is used for localized cleaning and controlled application or removal of fluids in critical clean environments — especially when geometry prevents effective wipe contact. Typical use cases include applying/removing lubricants and adhesives, scrubbing recessed areas, removing excess debris or materials, cleaning intersecting surfaces and joints, cleaning with compatible solvents/solutions, and picking up fine powders.

It is also commonly selected when parts or tooling are warm, because the series is positioned for use in applications below 350°F (always confirm compatibility with your surface, chemistry, and exposure time).

• Open-cell absorbency for capillary delivery: Useful when you need solvent to wick into a recess and lift residue, not just “wipe the top.”
• Thermal bond at the head: Eliminates adhesive at the bond line, reducing one common source of variability in solvent-heavy work.
• Long-handle geometry control: Helps maintain a consistent approach angle while keeping garments away from critical surfaces.
• Published “typical” cleanliness data: Typical ion extractables and NVR values support method development and background-setting (these are not specification limits).
• Silicone-free and amide-free packaging posture: Helps reduce “mystery variables” when residue sensitivity is high.
• Visual authenticity/segregation cue: Texwipe describes trademarked light-green handles with “TEXWIPE” embossed on the handle for at-a-glance line segregation and traceability.

TX740B uses 100 ppi polyurethane foam in an open-cell architecture. In practice, open-cell foam behaves like a capillary network: it wicks, holds, and re-releases solvent depending on pressure, contact time, and how saturated the head is at touch-down. That makes technique the deciding factor — the swab will amplify good control and also amplify bad habits.

• Head: 100 ppi CleanFoam® polyurethane foam (open-cell).
• Bond method: Thermal bonded (no adhesive at the head bond).
• Handle: Polypropylene (manufacturer describes 100% polypropylene).
• Handle color/ID: Light-green handle; “TEXWIPE” embossed (manufacturer-described ID cue).
• Low-linting note: Foam platforms are selected for low-linting performance, but nothing is truly lint-free. Burrs, sharp edges, and over-pressure are the usual root causes of fragments.

The key to TX740B is the relationship between contact patch and reach. The medium head gives meaningful coverage per pass inside tracks and channels, while the long handle helps you keep a stable approach angle without introducing garment contact. If your process is residue-sensitive, these “geometry controls” often matter more than the swab itself.

Attribute	TX740B
Head material	100 ppi CleanFoam® polyurethane foam (open-cell)
Head width	6.2 mm (0.244")
Head thickness	5.0 mm (0.197")
Head length	17.0 mm (0.669")
Handle material	Polypropylene
Handle width / thickness	3.2 mm / 3.2 mm (0.126" / 0.126")
Handle length	146.0 mm (5.748")
Total swab length	163.0 mm (6.417")
Head bond	Thermal
Design notes	Flexible head paddle; long handle

These values are published as typical contamination characteristics (not specification limits). Use them to compare platforms, estimate background risk, and support method development. In day-to-day use, the bigger lever is usually operator control: wetness at touch-down, one-direction strokes, and discarding before redepositing.

Ion	TX740B (typical)
Calcium	0.03
Chloride	0.04
Fluoride	0.01
Magnesium	0.03
Nitrate	0.01
Phosphate	0.01
Potassium	0.02
Sodium	0.09
Sulfate	0.07

Extractant	TX740B (typical)
DI water (DIW) extractant	0.12
IPA extractant	0.04

• Sterility: Non-sterile (sterile options exist in the broader CleanFoam® offering; choose sterile only when your area introduction controls require it).
• Packaging (manufacturer-published): 500 swabs/bag; 5 inner bags of 100 swabs; 5 bags/case (2,500 swabs/case).
• Bagging posture: Packaged in silicone-free and amide-free bags (series statement).
• Traceability: Lot coded for traceability and quality control.
• Shelf life (series): Non-sterile — 5 years from date of manufacture; sterile — 3 years from date of manufacture.
• Country of origin (manufacturer statement): Non-sterile — Made in The Philippines. (Series note: sterile — Made in The Philippines, irradiated in the USA.)
• Additional compliance note: TX740B is described as NSF Certified as a Cleaning Swab (P1) for use in and around food processing areas, with the requirement that it not have direct contact with food/potable water and use must follow manufacturer directions.

Treat swabbing like a controlled unit operation. With open-cell foam, the head can carry more solvent than expected, and “more wet” is usually the fastest way to create streaks. If your inspection finds residue lines, you can often fix it by changing how you wet, how you stroke, and when you discard — without changing solvent.

• Define “damp” (and train to it): Wet the head, then touch it to the inside wall of a clean solvent cup or a designated test coupon. If it drips, it is too wet. If it chatters/skips, it is too dry.
• One-direction strokes: Use single-direction passes. Overlap slightly to prevent skip lines. Avoid back-and-forth “scrubbing,” which often redeposits a thin film.
• Face management cadence: Rotate to a clean face early and often. A simple discipline is “two controlled strokes, rotate; two controlled strokes, rotate,” then discard when all usable faces are loaded.
• Angle control in tracks and channels: Use the long handle to keep your wrist outside the recess and keep the head square to the surface you’re cleaning. Rolling the handle is the common source of stripes.
• Pressure rule: Use the lowest effective pressure. Excess pressure can “squeegee” solvent out of the pores and leave comet-tail lines.
• Solvent handling discipline: Do not re-dip into shared reservoirs. Dispense one-way (small aliquots, squeeze bottles, filtered droppers) to avoid turning solvent into a contamination reservoir.
• Stop conditions: If residue persists after controlled passes, stop and escalate logically (different chemistry, pre-clean, or a different swab architecture). Chasing it with more strokes usually spreads it.

• Over-wetting: Flooding creates pooling and evaporative rings. Fix by standardizing solvent volume and verifying “damp” before contact.
• Reusing a loaded face: Produces streaks and redeposition. Fix with an explicit rotation cadence and early discard triggers.
• Sharp-edge abrasion: Foam can tear on burrs, threads, or sharp stamp edges. Fix with lighter pressure, straight-line strokes, and switching tools if geometry is abrasive.
• Unvalidated solvent compatibility: Stronger chemistries can attack polymers or change residue behavior. Fix by confirming compatibility under real exposure time/temperature.
• Cross-contamination by staging: Leaving swabs open on a bench invites fallout. Fix by opening only what you need and resealing promptly.

These are practical peers in the foam-swab category. The differences that matter in critical environments are typically: foam architecture (open-cell vs. sealed), bond method (thermal vs. adhesive), published cleanliness characterization, packaging controls, and lot traceability discipline.

• Berkshire Lab-Tips® long-handle foam swabs (open-cell variants): Often similar form factor; compare published ions/NVR, packaging posture, and how traceability is handled lot-to-lot.
• Contec foam swabs (sealed-foam designs): Sealed foam behaves differently (less wicking, different solvent carry). Validate whether your process needs capillary delivery (open-cell) or controlled wipe-down (sealed).
• Puritan controlled-environment foam swabs (long-handle options): Available as foam applicators; for critical environments, confirm cleanliness characterization, packaging, and traceability before treating as interchangeable.

TX740B fits best in the “precision cleaning / controlled application” layer — after gross soil removal and before final verification — particularly where the geometry prevents wipes from maintaining contact. In ISO-classified environments, the most defensible swab use is paired with controlled dispensing, defined discard practices, and lot traceability so the method is repeatable across shifts. In FDA-regulated operations, that same discipline supports cGMP expectations: documented consumables, consistent technique, and investigation-ready traceability.

SOSCleanroom supports this as a program decision, not just a part number: continuity of supply, fast shipping options, and a long-standing partnership with ITW Texwipe that emphasizes documentation discipline and lot-level traceability. When residue sensitivity is high, fewer last-minute substitutions and fewer undocumented inputs are often the difference between stable yield and recurring “why did this change?” investigations.

• SOSCleanroom product page (TX740B): https://www.soscleanroom.com/product/swabs/tx740b-medium-cleanfoam-swab-with-long-handle-open-cell/
• Texwipe manufacturer product page (TX740B): https://www.texwipe.com/medium-cleanfoam-tx740b
• SOS-hosted Technical Data Sheet (primary stable reference; CleanFoam® Series B incl. TX740B): https://www.soscleanroom.com/content/texwipe_pdf/740b%20741b%20742b%20751b%20752b%20757b.pdf
• Texwipe manufacturer Technical Data Sheet (CleanFoam® Swab Series; PDF): https://www.texwipe.com/images/uploaded/documents/Swabs/Texwipe-Cleanfoam-Swabs-TDS.pdf (US-TDS-051 Rev. 09/21)
• ISO (cleanroom classification context): https://www.iso.org/standard/53394.html
• FDA (cGMP / contamination-control context): https://www.fda.gov/
• ASTM (test methods / materials standards context): https://www.astm.org/
• IEST (recommended practices context): https://www.iest.org/